A new fund for investing in allied countries with contributions from private entities as well as the government is being planned, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Wednesday, as he confirmed that a presidential visit to Taiwan’s allies is being planned.
As Taiwan lost diplomatic ally Nauru to China shortly after January’s presidential election, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been alert to China’s potential “poaching” of Taiwan’s allies, especially around President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, Lin told reporters.
Although Taiwan’s allies have “stable relationships” with Taipei, China is nevertheless trying to discourage the nation’s international participation, Lin said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The ministry has formulated countermeasures against China’s Coast Guard Law and 22 guidelines “to punish Taiwan independence die-hards,” while also training officials at overseas missions to prepare for possible scenarios, he said.
Lin also confirmed that visits to allied nations by Lai are being arranged, although a full plan has not been determined.
A stopover in the US is part of the plan in accordance with precedent, he added.
The ministry would discuss how to arrange presidential visits in the US without inducing unnecessary responses ahead of the US presidential election in November, he said.
Meanwhile, Lin proposed an economic and trade diplomacy framework that would shift from strengthening allies to enhancing their prosperity.
Taiwan could share its industrial experience through collaborations on talent, capital and technology to create economic prosperity in allied countries, which would exert an influence on their neighbors in the long run, he said.
The Central and Eastern Europe Credit Fund has seen fruitful outcomes and the New Southbound Fund is being compiled, and a fund for a “prosperous allies” goal would be established next, with contributions to be from private entities as well as the government, Lin said.
The Executive Yuan’s economic diplomacy task force has announced two preparatory meetings and agreed to boost Taiwan’s international participation by utilizing the nation’s innovative energy from the “five trusted industry sectors” named by Lai: semiconductors, artificial intelligence, military, security and surveillance, and next-generation communications.
To enhance the prosperity of its allies, Taiwan would assist in constructing soft and hard infrastructure, and supply technical solutions in smart medicine, tourism, water resources, information systems and other fields, Lin said, adding that the policy aligns with the US government’s economic diplomacy task force set up last month and its strategy of “digital solidarity” announced in May.
Lin said that he has been reviewing and summarizing Taiwan’s collaborations with diplomatic allies, and would have more time to visit them to look into the bilateral collaboration programs and fulfil task objectives once this legislative session ends.
“Taiwan’s foreign cooperation strategy will resemble a ‘grid-like strategic structure,’ going from bilateral cooperation to regional, multilateral ones,” he said.
There is a plan for Taiwan to be included in the US defense supply chain as part of its friend-shoring policy, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS